Israel Hits Hezbollah Post in Lebanon

Israeli planes launch two air raids against a Hezbollah post on the border between Lebanon and Syria.

Elad Benari, 24/02/14 23:51

IAF F-16

IAF Website

Aircraft belonging to the Israeli Air Force (IAF) launched two air raids against a Hezbollah post on the border between Lebanon and Syria on Monday evening, a security source told the Lebanese Daily Star.

The source said Israeli planes launched four rockets on the Janta area in the mountains separating the Lebanese village of Nabi Sheet from the Syrian border.

The source noted that the Janta area is known to house a Hezbollah post, where recruitment and training are carried out.

Janta is also a well-known route for arms smuggling between Lebanon and Syria, the source told the Daily Star.

The Al Arabiya network reported that members of Hezbollah were killed in the airstrikes, but no further details were provided.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP that the target of the Israeli strike was a Hezbollah "missile base."

Hezbollah’s television station Al-Manar said there had been "no raid on Lebanese territory", reporting only the "strong presence of enemy planes over the area north of Bekaa" in eastern Lebanon.

Eyewitnesses said plumes of smoke were seen rising from the area were the Israeli planes carried out the strikes.

The IDF declined to officially comment on the alleged airstrike, but an Israeli security source confirmed to the Reuters news agency that there has been "unusually intense air force activity in the north", referring to Lebanon.

In the past, Israel was fingered as being responsible for airstrikes on Syria in which weapons shipments destined for Hezbollah were destroyed.

While Israel has never confirmed nor denied any involvement in these airstrikes, former National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror told the Tablet magazine recently that it was no accident that some Syrian shipments of advanced missile systems to Hezbollah did not make it to their destination.